Speaker Straus warns of potential economic effect of ‘bathroom’ bill

AUSTIN — Citing the huge sums that San Antonio has put into attracting events like the NCAA Final Four, House Speaker Joe Straus raised a fresh warning Wednesday about the potential economic impact of a proposal to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use.

Express Newsletters

Get the latest news, sports and food features sent directly to your inbox.

“Many people where I come from get concerned about anything that could slow down our overall job-creating machine,” said Straus, R-San Antonio. “They’re also watching what happened in North Carolina, and they are not enthusiastic about getting that type of attention. So I think we should be very careful about doing something that could make Texas less competitive for investments, jobs and the highly skilled workforce needed to compete.”

Straus made his remarks to the annual conference of the Texas Association of Business, which in December released a study showing that initiatives targeting gay and transgender Texans could cost the economy $8.5 billion a year and jeopardize 185,000 jobs.

After North Carolina enacted an anti-transgender bathroom measure, the state lost the NBA All-Star Game and seven NCAA championship events. Corporations also reacted, with PayPal canceling plans for a new facility. The governor who signed the measure into law, Pat McCrory, lost his re-election bid.

“San Antonio is proud of the fact that we’ll be hosting the 2018 Final Four, which will bring a reported $234 million in economic activity,” Straus said. “In fact, San Antonio has spent hundreds of millions of dollars renovating the Alamodome and our convention center in order to attract events like this.”

While saying that concerns over the measure are broader than basketball tournaments and conventions, Straus also emphasized that he was expressing his personal view and his community’s sentiments.

“We’ll see how the rest of the House feels,” he said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a tea-party-backed Republican who is championing Texas’ bill, has suggested economic concerns are overblown. He has insisted the measure is necessary to ensure people’s privacy and protect them from predators who may use restrooms to perpetrate crimes.

There is no evidence of a transgender person assaulting anyone in a restroom in Texas. Patrick’s effort was spurred when President Barack Obama issued a directive for schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom associated with their gender identity.

Straus, at the conference, said it’s important for the business community to speak up on the issue, and he said Gov. Greg Abbott’s opinion “can make a big difference too.”

Related

Abbott was low-key when asked about the idea in December, before the bill was filed. Among his points, Abbott said he would want to see whether there is a problem that needs to be solved by fresh legislation and whether current laws might be used to address any bathroom-related assaults. He also suggested that the incoming Donald Trump administration could have an effect on the issue.

Spokesmen for Abbott and Patrick didn’t have an immediate comment. Both officials are in Washington for Trump’s inauguration Friday.

The measure championed by Patrick and filed by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would require people to use restrooms in government buildings, public schools and universities that are designated for their “biological sex.” It would bar cities and counties from restricting private businesses with regard to their bathroom policies.

When asked by reporters after his Wednesday remarks whether his concerns mean the anti-transgender bill will be bottled up in the House, Straus said, “I want the House to have a good conversation about that bill and thousands of others.”